Broadway performers, film and television veterans, and local playwrights all collaborate on Bill W. and Dr. Bob
February 7, 2006
Contact:
Cory Elizabeth Nelson, Artistic Associate
617.923.7060 x204, corynelson@newrep.org
This March, New Rep presents Bill W. and Dr. Bob, which follows the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in the early 1930s. Directed by Rick Lombardo, this production features film and television veterans Patrick Husted and Kathleen Doyle, along with Robert Krakovski, Deanna Dunmyer, Rachel Harker, and Marc Carver. Bill W. and Dr. Bob begins performances on March 5 and opens for the press on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 7:30 PM, playing through March 26. The production is sponsored by TD Banknorth.
The cast of Bill W. and Dr. Bob includes Broadway performers, film and television actors, and the finest of Boston artists. Patrick Husted plays Bob Smith; his previous film appearances include The Cradle Will Rock, Blow, the upcoming All the King’s Men, and several appearances on Law and Order and LA Law. Robert Krakovski co-stars as Bill Wilson, after appearing regionally in productions at Hartford Stage, the McCarter Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, among others. Kathleen Doyle, with multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway credits to her name, appears as Anne Smith. A winner of the Barrymore Award and a Drama Desk nominee, she appeared on Broadway in The Odd Couple (female version), and her film credits include Sidewalks of New York, Mighty Aphrodite, and Brighton Beach Memoirs. The production also features Rachel Harker (Lois Wilson), Deanna Dunmyer (Woman), and Marc Carver (Man).
Written by local playwrights Stephen Bergman (also a novelist under the pen name Samuel Shem) and Janet Surrey, Bill W. and Dr. Bob has a long history with New Rep, having received one of its first readings at the theatre in March of 1990. In a fluid style that moves through time and space, the play explores the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous by documenting the deeply personal struggle of its two founders – stockbroker Bill Wilson and surgeon Bob Smith – and their families. From the final days of the roaring twenties to the depths of the Great Depression, from the bars of Staten Island to the city hospitals of Akron, Ohio, Bill W. and Dr. Bob provides a compassionate, cathartic, and often humorous rendering of a thoroughly American success story.
“Bill W. and Dr. Bob talks about something remarkable, and it’s a story that isn’t often told,” states Rick Lombardo, Producing Artistic Director. “I liked the fact that New Rep helped the play along in its first readings, and now we have an opportunity to let a larger audience know about this tremendously important achievement in American history.” AFF/ENT Theatrical, an entertainment company based in Palm Beach, Florida, has provided enhancement funding for the New Rep production, and there is strong interest in taking the show to New York in the fall, after the New Rep run.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob, with scenic design by Anita Fuchs, costumes by Jane Alois Stein, lighting by Daniel Meeker, sound design by Rick Lombardo, casting by Stuart Howard, Amy Schecter, and Paul Hardt, and original music, musical arrangements, and onstage accompaniment by Todd C. Gordon, opens for the press on March 6, 2006 and plays through March 27. For more information, contact the box office at 617.923.8487. Presentation of this work does not imply affiliation with nor approval or endorsement from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc.
New Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, direction, and production. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, with additional support by Bank of America.